


The Music of Language

by RayneSummer



Series: the language of assassins should be considered [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Tony and Nat are great friends and i love them, Tony is smart and wants his assassins to feel safe, and understood, languages are fascinating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 09:04:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19128862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer
Summary: She moved off as he turned slightly, but caught the curious look he sent her way. It wasn't one of his usual expressions - of which most were masks: of sarcasm, definitely-not-in-pain, certainly-not-hurt-by-that-comment, and many more.It was a new look, and Natasha wondered exactly what it meant.





	The Music of Language

**Author's Note:**

> So I looked up some Russian and it's a super melodic language with tender words for nicknames and this happened idk I have a lot of Tony Nat feels just take it

Natasha wasn't the mothering type. She was barely the 'friend' type. She'd been trained all her life to kill, tie her laces, and run - as the expression went, apparently. But somehow, someway, she had found a family.

After moving into Stark, or rather The _Avengers'_ , Tower, she doubted she'd see much of the others. But she did.

After movie night and breakfasts together, she doubted she'd need anyone to actually understand her.

But they still tried.

Usually, it wouldn't be noticeable to a normal person. But Clint wasn't the only one with sharp eyes.

There were many instances, really. But the main one was when Tony announced he had organised sign language classes so Clint was never left out when he wasn't wearing his hearing aids.

At their first class, it was almost amusing to see the team try to figure the gestures out. The teacher was an amicable lady who name was Pearl or Patty or something unimportant (Natasha had already scanned her; she was no threat, tongue or hands).

Tony was the first one to successfully learn the alphabet, closely followed by Bruce and Steve. Thor still struggled, but his effort was admirable.

The small, genuine, smile Tony gave the ground after Clint thanked him again for the entire opportunity wasn't unnoticed by her as she rounded the table, correcting hand shapes and testing those more confident. 

Stopping behind Tony, she put a hand on his shoulder in the most intimate gesture Natasha knew she could do.

"Good work,  _umnitsa_ ," she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear.

She moved off as he turned slightly, but caught the curious look he sent her way. It wasn't one of his usual expressions - of which most were masks: of sarcasm, definitely-not-in-pain, certainly-not-hurt-by-that-comment, and many more.

It was a new look, and Natasha wondered exactly what it meant.

* * *

The second instance was when Tony joined them for breakfast after a three day long workshop binge.

He said he'd been working on new arrows for Clint that included a grappling hook ability (something to do with the archer falling three stories after a building's roof started to collapse, Natasha was sure) but the look in his eyes wasn't exactly the same exhausted-but-proud glint that was often apparent after such events.

"You're using my cup, little spider," he said nonchalantly as he passed the table where Natasha sat next to Clint and Steve. She glanced down at the mug that was indeed the engineer's and back up, expecting Tony to be standing with hands on hips, waiting for her to surrender it.

But he had walked straight past them to the cupboard next to Bruce, where he got a new mug and immediately drank the remainder of coffee from the pot.

There was something about the way he was standing that was odd, but Natasha, for the second time, couldn't quite put her finger on what precisely was different about it. If she could, she would start to feel a little uneasy by how this was now the second instance that was throwing her off.

But instead she just stored it at the back of her mind and sipped from the Iron Man mug as he stared at the man himself.

He was staring at a window, but clearly was not seeing it. Again, the look in his eyes wasn't the far away look he had during flashbacks and panic. It was slightly different. There was just... something about it.

Natasha glanced away when Clint tapped her elbow and when she looked back, a mask was back in place as Tony left the room without eating.

Her slight frown met Bruce's concerned eyes.

"Leave it," Clint sighed from beside her without looking up from his crossword. Steve raised an eyebrow, replying with a question to what exactly they were meant to leave. Cap was certainly clever, but there was nothing like an assassin's sharp skills.

She interrupted the discussion to quieten the room.

"Never mind,  _kotnoyok_ ," she said mildly, getting up to wash the sacred mug so it was ready for Stark next time. She caught Clint's smirk at the words, and silently agreed that Captain America wouldn't particularly appreciate being called 'kitten' if he knew.

* * *

At another sign language lesson, she brushed up on her own skills - unnecessarily, as she had been teaching herself the correct shapes and gestures since Clint had let her live. But it made Steve look even more proud of his team as they all learnt something together.

Clint and Natasha waited for the others to catch onto the phrase of the day by talking between each other silently.

'Didn't know you got rusty,' he signed with a sarcastic wink. She rolled her eyes, lip twitching in an automatic return smile.

"Of course,  _zolotse_ , never," she replied aloud with equal sarcasm.

Tony cleared his throat loudly from a couple of chairs down. "We're meant to be learning, not struggling to figure out what you two are covertly discussing," he pointed out, but had an amused glint in his eye that told the assassins he liked watching their domestic interactions. "I'm sure you two have several secret languages so let us get to know just this one, yeah?"

Steve, who was a word behind as he couldn't quite get the finger shape right, frowned and replied logically, "Sign isn't exactly a secret language. I guess you could call Morse Code secret though, if you wanted--"

"Thanks, captain sparkle, I get it." Tony rolled his eyes at Clint who grinned in response. "What makes you so special?" 

The archer shrugged. "Guess I'm just golden."

Tony nodded slowly, eyes shifting to Natasha with an uncharacteristic thoughtfulness in the gaze.

Not that Tony wasn't thoughtful, but this was something different. Again. 

She stared back at him, the slight narrowing of her eyes met with a huff of amusement from the resident genius, who shook his head as though to get rid of the somewhat hypnotising affect of the Black Widow's unwavering gaze, and looked away to help Bruce sign the selected phrase in the correct order.

Natasha tilted her head just slightly, watching him. She still didn't get it.

* * *

Eventually, it did get to her. She had to know.

So one evening, after a delicious curry made by their resident green guy who also happened to be great at cooking, she ventured down to the only real private quarters in the entire tower.

Natasha stood on the steps outside the lab, avoiding being obviously seen through the windowed wall.

She just watched for a moment; the engineer had been in there for at least two days again and was clearly just beginning to show physical signs of exhaustion. At least he had a stash to keep hydrated and somewhat fed, which the robots helped with. That was the only reason Bruce hadn't freaked out every time the man didn't show for days.

Observing Tony Stark was different from interacting with him. Very different. Especially in his only real safe space.

The man went from desk to desk, muttering to himself or JARVIS or the smaller bots, picking little things up, getting tools no one but him probably knew the names of, and using them with the efficiency of a ballet dancer who knew their routine step by step.

And Natasha knew what that was like.

"My little assassin, are you going to watch all day?"

Not particularly surprised, she descended the rest of the steps and opened the already unlocked door without entering the code, wandering towards the desk that Stark was at. "What's that in reference to?" 

It was more conversation than genuine interest, and Tony knew it judging from the amused side glance.

"Never watched 'My Little Pony', Nat?" He asked mildly, putting something down and moving to another desk where he picked up another bolt-looking screw and assumingly its matching screwdriver.

"Guess."

"Me neither." He flashed her a grin, a mask firmly glued to his expression since she was in his personal room. "Barton said it's some kind of pink horse thing. Didn't ask how he knew. Probably has secret kidnapped kids or something."

Natasha almost smiled with how accurate the man could be while 'guessing'. Of course, he didn't know - she had personally made sure there was zero trace of Laura and the children on any kind of file, SHIELD or otherwise - but he was observant and liked to say real suggestions in sarcasm.

Never one for small talk, she cut straight to the point. 

"What's up with you lately?"

He paused; not frozen but thinking. Considering. "Mmm. Wouldn't you like to know, Tasha?"

Ignoring another nickname, she just watched him as he tinkered with the screw thing and screwdriver. He wasn't doing anything particular with it, just twirling it round and round as thoughts went through his mind in a similar way.

"It's bothering me," she said, the bluntness even more pronounced.

At that, he sighed and chuckled. "Well, we can't have that, can we," he murmured, a small smile on his lips as he stared down at the desk.

Patiently, she waited. And after a moment, he looked up, meeting her eyes.

"I've lived alone. Always have, even when other people were around. And thought that would continue when you lot were around. But... I guess not." He shrugged, going back to fiddling with the screwdriver and its perfect fit partner.

Natasha waited silently. There was more.

"Not that's it's a bad thing."

"Well thank you,  _Antoshka_ ," she said too politely.

Stark grinned again. Mask still on. Not that she could blame him. She was in his space, after all, despite being invited. Invitations weren't exactly admissions to everywhere and sharing of all anyone could give. And never should be. Natasha knew that and respected that, but at this moment, she wanted to know.

"Anyway. I guess it kind of threw me. In a good way? I think? And I'm not usually one for guessing, you know," he continued, snark sneaking into the sincerity.

"But." It was a statement for him to carry on.

He heaved a sigh and put down the playthings, actually turning to face her, closing the space between them in every way but physically. "But, yeah, so I make stuff, and Clint was looking like a lost puppy without being involved because that birdbrain is so much more talkative than he likes to let on, so yeah, I made him stuff."

"And then you schedule the classes."

"Yeah. Well technology can only do so much - and yes, that's coming from me," he added at her sarcastic eyebrow raise. She gave a small nod, waiting.

There was a pause before the admission.

"And I didn't want him to be left out and I thought it would help, okay?"

Natasha finally stopped standing silently and took the steps to close the floor distance between them. She put her hand on his shoulder again, the best gesture of solidarity she knew and could do with all sincerity. And even then it was confined to close friends only. It meant something.

"It's okay. You did good,  _solnyshko_."

He nodded, not meeting her eyes. She tightened her grip just a fraction.

"I mean it, Tony."

Finally, he looked up, straight at Natasha, reading the truth in her green eyes. And feeling awkward because of it, but also gratified, and tons of other emotions he'd rather work on pointless projects instead of decipher.

"Thanks, Nat," he murmured, and shifted slightly, prompting her to drop the hand.

She just nodded and turned to leave, satisfied he would be alright alone. After all, although he'd be alone in the room - and it was his room, so that was fine anyway - he finally knew he wasn't alone in the tower so large it seemed empty half the time.

As she left the workshop, Tony called from behind, "but I'm brighter than that, right?"

Natasha didn't bother looking back, choosing instead to conceal her smile in front of her as she paused outside the door, hearing it lock behind her, silencing Tony's chuckle at yelling after her. She composed her face (she had an assassin character to hold up, after all) and headed up the stairs to find if Clint had gotten into any trouble in the half hour since she'd left him watching a film in the lounge.

Of course Stark wouldn't just learn one language to ease them all. The loyalty was endless as the sweetness of the Russian language.

Even when she spoke it while on missions, it was still musical to her.

**Author's Note:**

> kotyonok - kitten  
> solnyshko - small sun  
> zolotse - my gold  
> umnitsa - smart (person)
> 
> These are from the internet so I apologise if they're not completely right but they're sweet and it's done now so.  
> Also Nat has green eyes now don't fight me


End file.
